I am curious though, what does the putative driver do if the bloke doing the threatening doesn't have a beard? Presumably just drives on, nothing to see here, just a good old fashioned redne...blooded aussie having some fun with the fuzz...?

Who knew beards could be so dangerous?

I'm also wondering what it is that's especially bad about being shot dead by a "radicalised" fool as compared to the standard homegrown variety of fool?

So many questions...

Guns and self-defence is dangerous talk. I used to have such fantasies when I was much younger. But too often, the wrong people, even family members, have been killed by people 'protecting themselves with guns. And, if you shoot an unarmed person, you are in big trouble with the law. I would be interested to know just how many times these people 'needing' firearms for protection have ever had to actually use them for protection. Besides, by the time you unlock the weapon, get the seperately stored ammuntion to load them, perhaps after getting a gun out of its "oily rag", it would be too late. If you have a gun ready to go, you are breaking the law. Some people have a warped attitude to society and an unnecessarily fearful attitude about society. In your own home, locking up properly is the best fence. Away from home, you have no right to be toting a gun openly, at the ready. Self defence is a phurpy when it comes to firearms.

Paul,

"What about a comment on the quote by Lunatic Leyonhjelm, does your silence indicate your full support for dead coppers on the roadside?"

What was the full context of what he said, is the quote out of context?

Every Australian has the right to defend themselves, or don't you agree?

As a firearm is sometimes the only adequate means of defence then every Australian has the right to have a firearm, just as every US citizen has that same right.

Josephus,

You seem to know little about bullets or cages.
How does a cage stop a bullet?

By stopping heavily armed paranoid would be vigilantes roaming the streets presumably.

Is Mise,

"Every Australian has the right to defend themselves,"
"every Australian has the right to have a firearm"

I catch public transport in Sydney, often. Just yesterday I was on a train and in the carriage was this bloke who kept making loud incoherent noises, and biting his hand. I presume he was Australian, and according to you; every Australian has the right to have a firearm. I sincerely hope that bloke, and many others like him who catch public transport every day of the week in Sydney, never ever are given the right to have a firearm.
Is Mise I don't know where you hang out, maybe all is just fine and dandy in Sleepy Hollow, but the reality of the big city is somewhat different, plenty of nutters, and unstable people around who I would not trust with a pea shooter, let alone a real gun!

Paul,

Everyone has the right to defend themselves, therefore they have the right to an adequate mans of such defence, it's what is called a natural right.

Do you ever consider that it might be better if you stopped biting your nuckles in public?